Chemical vapor infiltration and deposition (CVI/CVD) is a known process for making composite structures such as carbon/carbon brake disks. The CVI/CVD process typically used for making carbon/carbon brake disks may involve passing a reactant gas or gas mixture (e.g., methane, propane, etc.) around heated porous structures (e.g., carbonized preforms) with a pressure differential driving the gas mixture into the porous structures. The gas enters into the porous structures, driven by pressure gradients, and undergoes a reaction such as thermal decomposition, hydrogen reduction, co-reduction, oxidation, carbidization, or nitridation to deposit a binding matrix.
Depending on CVI/CVD methodology and conditions, the porous structure may not densify at a uniform rate across the thickness of a porous structure, may not form a desired microstructure, and may be associated with long processing times. Thus, creation of uniformly densified porous structures may be impaired using conventional systems and methods.